The aim here is to change the dangerous useless 7” front drum brakes of an Austin A30, or of an early sprite, to the 8 inch Morris Minor drum brakes... this is a substantial increase of 50%... you will find it is more than adequate then !!! Maths of 50% if you really wanna know. Surface areas per brake shoe inside the drum = 7" 28.8 x 175 = 5040sqmm, 8" = 37.3 x 200 = 7460sqmm This is a 1.5 times increase in braking area... plus the huge new drums are at least twice as substantial... plus it's all new, not 70 years old. .
STOP!!! DO NOT BUY BEFORE READING !!!! YOU ARE NOT GETTING THE FULL KIT WITH ALL OPTIONS FOR $195, WHICH SHOULD BE REALLY REALLY OBVIOUS, BUT NOT TO SOME PEOPLE... MAKE SURE YOU READ THIS ITEM BEFORE BUYING... READ AT LEAST THE NEXT 6 PARAGRAPHS. SORRY IF I HAVE TO WRITE SIMPLE-SIMON, BUT THERE IS A GROWING PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE WHO DON'T READ ANYTHING AT ALL, USING THE EBAY MOBILE APP WHICH IS TOTAL GARBAGE... AND THEY'RE JUST LOOKING AT PICTURES, THEN BUYING. (a complete and utter mystery to me ). WHEN YOU SEE RED BELOW, THIS IS THE COST OF THAT OPTION, SO YOU JUST ADD UP THE RED PARTS YOU WANT, TO FIND OUT WHAT YOUR COST IS. SEEMS EASY TO ME.
Unfortunately, as everyone except our moron politicians knows (with their 8% cpi ??!!), prices since Covid have doubled to tripled, especially from UK....The following prices are new as at January 2024, the last old-price kit has just been sold to NZ.... and all components have skyrocketed in price, many tripling. The starter-kit stays at $195, but everything else is shown below. Below prices are what you pay after the starter kit has been bought on Ebay... I will discuss this with you via email etc after the starter-kit.
I have split out some things that are really expensive, so you can NOT buy them if you wish. for example the copper bridge pipes are $55 each !! or $110 a pair. Maybe you might want to make your own.
PEOPLE FROM OTHER COUNTRIES TRANSLATING. YOU SHOULD READ THE GREEN COLOUR PARAGRAPHS AT THE END OF THIS WRITING. I WRITE THE GREEN PARAGRAPHS DIFFERENT, AND SO, GOOGLE TRANSLATE IS BETTER. ALSO IN THE GREEN WRITING, I TELL YOU ABOUT FREIGHT, AND OTHER INFORMATION.
I SELL IT IN THE FOLLOWING WAY, AS SOME PEOPLE WANT TO SOURCE THEIR OWN PARTS, OTHERS WANT TO HAVE PARTIAL-SUPPLY...
IF YOU WISH TO GO AHEAD... FIRSTLY, BUY THE "METHOD AND TOOL" HERE IN THIS LISTING... THEN I WILL CONTACT YOU RE YOUR SPECIAL SITUATION AND HOW TO PROCEED.... FURTHER HELP and EXPLANATIONS OF THE WHYS AND WHEREFORES CAN BE GIVEN AFTER THE SALE OF THE METHOD HERE.
1. THE METHOD AND TOOL IS SOLD HERE in this listing... THIS INCLUDES A SPECIAL TOOL I HAD MADE, AS IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO SOURCE THAT ELSEWHERE, SO IT MUST BE SOLD IN THE NON-OPTIONAL LISTING HERE. (person who made these tools years ago, appears to have shuffled off this mortal coil (or mortal-coight depending on your world-view), so no more after they're all gone). ALL NOTES, and tips on side issues, and the rear, ARE IN HARD COPY, AND A USB STICK IS SUPPLIED WITH PHOTOS $195 (THIS LISTING).
2. THE OTHER PARTS, BELOW,TO ACHIEVE THIS ENTIRE KIT AND INSTALLATION, CAN BE BOUGHT HERE OR ELSEWHERE... or maybe you want to use some old ones.... THAT'S ENTIRELY UP TO YOU.
YOU CHOOSE what you want from me, and what you want to source yourself... Here are the choices...
2a. THE RECONDITIONED OE BACK PLATES ARE A HUGE COST AS I BUY THEM AT TOP DOLLAR FROM A SPECIAL SUPPLIER.... WARNING... WARNING... BEWARE NEW INDIAN REPRO JUNK-BACK-PLATES BEING FLOGGED CHEAP... THERE'S A GOOD REASON THEY'RE CHEAP, THEY'RE RUBBISH... DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU...and fly them out fedex with the tax dept adding all sorts of ludicrous fees to pay for their wasteful ways..... $360 A PAIR
2b. THE NEW MASKS AND SNAILS FOR 8" ARE ALSO ONLY TOP QUALITY, BEWARE CHEAPER ONES THAT ARE OF A CRAP-GRADE STEEL. $220 FOR A SET OF 8 pieces or 4 pairs. Sprite-owners of 7"... please note that your CAM-ADJUSTERS (masks and snails) are for 7"... and are a smaller internal-axle diameter than 8"... they may be ok, OR they may not lift enough. A30 uses an awful old rotary-adjuster system, so A30 MUST buy new masks and snails)
2c. THE BRAND NEW 8" DRUMS. YOU MAY WISH TO BUY THESE YOURSELF. I AIR-FREIGHTED MY NEW ONES OUT AND AIRFREIGHT IS NOW $25+ A KILO IN BULK... THESE WEIGH 4 KG EACH ONE, SO $200 FREIGHT ALONE!! THEY ARE REALLY HEAVY, WHICH IS ONE REASON WHY THEY WORK SO WELL. Why do I use expensive air-freight to import everything? Answer. The WA port is a monopoly and controlled by a corrupt company and equally corrupt union with ludicrous rules and fees for small packages, so the days of consumer sea-freight are now utterly dead. eg a minimum $500 "fee" for any box to clear plus loads more "fees"... and "free-storage" for 2 days, then $30+ a day, but of course it takes 2 weeks to get the morons to do anything... then special "local transport fees" to my suburb, just so corrupt.... waste of time ... I did try... Air freight is damned expensive at $25 a kilo, but so-o-o easy. $450 A PAIR
2d. Wheel cylinders 4 Made in italy . 2 left, 2 right, 4 in total, These are $50 each or $200 the set of 4
2e. CBS107 copper bridge pipes x 2 , 1 each side. These run from one wheel cylinder to the other , under the hub, and are about 6 inches long $110
2f. ALL THE REST $285
1. New FBK113 pull off spring x 4
2. New FBK117 nipple spares only 2
3. New FBK118 small bolt late x 4
4. New FBK119 large bolt late x 4
5. New FBK121 complete front shoes set x 1
6. New CBS124 copper washer… end hose to cyl x 2 (no leaks!!)
.... all the rest of theparts needed to make an entire brand new front brake system are here.
2g. Hose A30 x 2…my special 14" long ones... all UNF.... YOU MAY WISH TO RE-USE YOURS $150 PAIR
2h. postage aust will be from $25 to $45. Overseas postage is discussed below in green and will be between $120 and $499. (NZ to middle east, with everyone else in between somewhere, also depending on your weight eg drums in 14kg, drums out 6kg, 14kg courier express DHL etc air freight from rip-off land here is damned expensive)
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THE LONG RAMBLING MIDDLE BIT. This a long article… read it all, to the end , so you understand all aspects of this sale !!!
Note the NEW 8” drums (and backing plates... ) are all imported air-freight and they are expensive. Components in this kit are mainly new but some are recond (plates). New parts are sourced from different suppliers as quality on some parts had issues. The choices are made according to problems I have come across and solved in the various real installations I have done, learning all the time.
As I said above, the aim is to switch the useless 7” front drum brakes of an Austin A30 or A35 to 8 inch Morris Minor drum brakes... a substantial increase of 50% !!!. Once done, the parts are all Morris Minor, cheap and readily available off the shelf anytime. Example... my wheel cylinders started seizing the other week after 10 years... easily available wheel cylinders used on many cars incl MM, I had it all done the same morning. Only the brakes are changed, nothing else up the front… although I give you many tips on side-issues that I have learnt the hard way how to resolve. The rear stays the same, but I give you tips on setting it right in the three steps necessary (in an A30) to achieve correct rear braking (often not done correctly). You may wish to change the rear clevis pins too… and maybe get the frame cylinder re-sleeved (should only be $60).
My Austin A30 has had this for 10 years now... what a difference... I remember before worrying about traffic lights up ahead if a car is waiting to turn... please no amber .... no amber... no amber... trying to catch their eye just in case... they will expect you to stop ! and will turn. Idiots cutting in front as you approach a red light... an ambulance driven by some stupid young woman cut in front of me once, expecting me to stop like a modern car !!! Aieee.. car swerving like mad as i tried to miss her... just constant worry about the poxy brakes. And with my engine mods, it was even more concerning!!! No more... now it is really good... pulls up sharp and straight... love it !!!!
YES, you will read on the net 2 other ways to upgrade. (remember the net is a good 25 years old now). One. “The A40 farina mk2 conversion”. YES, this was ONCE “the way” back in 1990. Not any longer. A40 mk2s have become WAY too rare. The 8” Austin A40 mk2 backing plate, which is an easy fit on, is too hard to source. Anyway, the 4 wheel cylinders are not available as cheap repro like MM, nor the drums, nor the shoes, so it sort of defeats the purpose.
Two. The disc-brake wedge. The thin end of the wedge is you seeing the UK advert for a rusty Midget sprite disc brake set for three hundred quid… “cool” you say… “I will get that… “
The wedge rapidly gets fat from the $800 outlay… By the time you have it here, another $700 freight as it weighs a ton… now the rest… which I will heavily summarise as it is so long… are the stub axles OK? Are the hubs ok? Will it swap? Did they include the pans? The steering linkage is different. Will yours/or the new one pan undo at the kingpin (the fulcrum pin often jams solid and the pans have to be chucked at 400 each? Is the kingpin knackered (can’t use your one), rebuild the calipers (I was quoted $1000 as parts are over $500 for good pistons etc), Brembo rotors are many hundreds as your rusty old import rotor ain’t gonna work, new mount bolts, king pin kits, hoses , new pads, plates &, squeal plates (prob not on rusty one), then setting up kingpins reaming etc not for faint-hearted… more money… suspension parts, wishbones are $1000 pair if you need them, then on and on. Then you have a car with discs. But now you have it absolutely mismatched at the rear… sod it… have to do them too.
You get the picture… Also, discs have problems with the a30 master cylinder… the cylinder is very low and there are disparate residual back-pressures (either zero, two lbs, ten lbs), different release and a mismatch to the frame cylinder (which is also low), which is not a wheel cylinder. As I said, a fat wedge indeed. The drum conversion means you can keep your old MC and pans and suspension etc.
If you’re not racing… well who gives a rat’s about fade after ten pushes at high speed… you only want it a couple times really hard… normally you’re not driving like a maniac. My Morrie 8” drums on my 1180 A30 pull up from 100mph after its 15.9 second qtr mile burn with minimal fade even at this speed… and, as I said above, in normal modern traffic, it is amazing. Heaps of cooling (the drums weigh heaps more too) as it is only pulling up 700kg. Poops all over the 7inch… and with a small (optional) booster is a good pedal too. Takes a couple months to bed in, though, so be patient.
OK…. So, basically we want to switch to Morris Minor 1098 8inch brakes. The problems are two-fold. One… the backing plate is utterly different in the centre… plus it just hits part of the suspension. Two… the drum needs to come in 3 to 4 mm or you will lose 8% of your shoes which sorta defeats the purpose. There are other set-up problems but we’ll get to those.
Note it will take at least 1,000 km to reach full braking as the shoes need to wear down all high spots.
My system had to be such that it didn't need some "engineering friend", & the ideas address every tiny step as well as a way that a normal garage-home-mechanic can make it happen with non-precision gear, a good eye is enough. It will be BETTER if you get the MM plate prepared by an engineering shop, but not essential.
It also tells you what you DON'T need, & also some notes on the front hub if you get waylaid there with wobble & how to fix it & how to PROPERLY synchronise the rear brakes with the system, which on an A30 is often not done properly.
Also there are possible problems that could happen to you with the set-up of the hydraulics, pedal problems and so on… all of which were finally solved in the different cars, but I give you the lot, so you have the big picture with all variables. I also had a pull to one side on another car. That was solved in a strange way. Lots of time. Lots of money on experiments etc. You know the score. But you get the info. Saves paying some brake joint $150 an hour (WA).
You use and cut up your old A30 7” backing plates in a certain way I will tell you in the instructions, to make a new part for the conversion. In the unlikely event you mess up your old A30 plate as you do this, I will keep a pair here. If your A30 has Midget 7” plates on , they are different, BUT what we are doing to the old ones here means the difference is not relevant. To paraphrase for clarity….. by this, I mean that either 7 inch midget or 7 inch Austin a30 plates (even though they’re slightly different) make the same part for the purposes of this conversion.
I suggest using snails and masks from an 8" morrie... and new from my special supplier, I do not suggest the average supplier… as this is a problem-part if you get the wrong metal. . The sprite uses 7" snails and masks... you could experiment with those, but there is a slight difference between 7” and 8” snails/masks in the internal axle diameter... you may find the 7" ones do not raise the shoes enough... but then you save $180 above. A30 does not use snails and masks at all, so A30 people... you have no choice as far as using your existing a30 ones, as yours are utterly different.
Boosters do not increase braking ability really, they just make it easier to push… I will not be selling boosters as there too many on ebay already, Try "brake_depot" on ebay, a melb outfit, full inline kit 169 incl post.
THE END BIT....
SPECIAL TOOL.... INCLUDED
SPECIAL TOOL. Please note part of the process involves “engineering”. This CAN be done in two ways, eg by paying a shop to do it OR using basic tools at home in a clever set-up way, I tell you how. It will require a specific tool if you do it that is included in the listing here. This three-part tool is specialised and will help a lot to do a process… I have had this made up and it is included...
SPECIAL OPTIONAL PARTS, GENERAL INFO ON TOOLS YOU HAVE
(a) CBS125 large lock-nut hose to body x 2 $20 pair (unlikely to need)
(b) CBS123 large body star washer x 2 $15 pair (unlikely to need)
(c) VERY unlikely PARTS emergency part ... the old 7" sprite or A30 backing plates is used for to make a part in the conversion , to use in addition to the 8 inch new plate. It is an easy mod, but it is possible you might accidentally bugger it up (unlikely as it is a dead easy mod), but if this should happen, i have one spare pair of old 7 inch plates sitting here... MOST UNLIKELY $100
(d) BOOSTER. The booster makes the pedal feel easier. It does not increase braking capability per se… it only makes it better as a function of you not having to divert concentration and divert some physical strength to push the pedal harder. You therefore have more wherewithal to control the vehicle as it brakes… (eg a woman with less physical strength.. or some old gaffer like me, whose marvellous youthful strength where once he could lift a 70kg woman up on to his shoulders, has given way to decrepitude...). You do not HAVE to install a booster to get the way-better brakes… that is a function of 50% greater area, and new parts. However, I do include much info on installing a booster for an A30 specifically, as I am interested in giving you all options and the benefit of all my hard-learned experience on this conversion.
(e) GENERAL TOOL. It may also require you to buy another very general tool if you do not have it already. This general tool will be useful to you afterwards in other jobs etc & will cost between $25 & $50 depending if you buy on the net or some ripoff retailer in Aust.
(f) This paragraph is just info about another tool and I suggest you think about (a) (b) (c) below now. I supply you with new factory-manufactured ends-pre-fitted bridging pipes* (see kit inclusions) that can be re-bent easily with your hands into the slightly new shape to go from one WC to the other. (a) You MAY have to make new pipes for unlikely reasons (b) Later, you may intend to add a booster and re-plumb. (c) Part of this conversion may involve adding a brake part into the pipe system to get the pedal up. SO… you may wish to go to brake-places cap-in-hand getting pipes made, then back again, then again, the again, etc etc.
OR MAYBE.... consider buying a flaring tool-kit NOW, rather than sodding around Buying this tool is under 3 hours at a brake place (WA). IF YOU BUY A TOOL… do NOT buy any cheapo ones. ONLY BUY the top of the line turret ones. All the others are rubbish. Many can’t even do a ball or bubble flare at all. Many will not be able to work with steel. Most are useless. Buy an Eastwood turret… or Sykes-Pikavant. Yes, it is expensive $400 up. But the lesser ones will end up in the bin… Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
(g) OPTIONAL PROCESS/PART. I give you solutions to many variant “problems” that could occur… that way you at least know ways to solve it. One variable is changed using “A PROCESS”, the other variable is using “A PART”… another a HYDRAULIC PART. These are solutions/variables I have learnt and are in the instructions. They could be NOT REQUIRED/ ONE OF /TWO OF/THREE OF… None are particularly expensive..
OVERSEAS. People from Overseas who translate this item. If you are an overseas person, who lives in another country, then this sale writing above here is in English, but it is written for people who speak English to read. Google will not translate good. Now, here, I write this green colour paragraph, so that Google will translate better.
The brake improvement kit (sale of equipment and instructions) you see on Ebay is only a begin kit. You must buy more brake bits after you buy the begin kit (start kit). You choose what other brake bits you buy afterwards. So, my meaning is, you buy this begin kit for the instructions and also the maximum overseas postage. After you buy the begin kit and the maximum postage, then we talk about what other brake parts you need. Then you pay for the other brake bits (parts) you need. Then I refund some postage, I refund back down to the correct amount for your weight, and your country.
The refunds for your country are next. The $500 postage fee is the MOST express courier postage anyone, anywhere will ever pay for a FULL 15kg brake kit. This is postage, plus insurance, plus an ebay fee on postage of 15% (the 15% fee on postage is by dishonest Ebay). Some example countries postages are now written. Saudi Arabia and Middle East countries, $500 = full postage, so no refund. Europe countries = $400, so $100 refund. USA and some Asian countries = $300, so $200 refund.
If you do not buy all the parts, then this will make the price to be more small. So, I can tell you, that if you do not buy the full kit, then the weight will be less, then the postage will be less. Now I give you an example. For example, the brake drums are half of the weight of this brake kit. So, if you do not add the brake drums to your purchase, then the postage fee will be much less. Then your postage refund i give you from the $500, will be a much higher refund.
This is the only way I can charge you the postage on Ebay, as Ebay is not flexible (intransigent, inflexible, not willing to change). I must start with the maximum postage, then refund backwards.
I say to you again, but in different words. The amount you pay here is just for the begin kit. The begin kit is the instructions, and the full maximum postage. Then after this purchase, then you buy the extra parts that you want to buy. After that, you pay for the extra parts that you choose. Then, I will refund you part of the $500 full postage. The refund will be different for different countries, and for different choices of parts, and different weights. I write the sale this way, because maybe you want to use your own brake parts. Or, maybe you are happy to buy all the brake parts from me.
If you write to me, I can write to you especially. I will use Google translation of Simple English. Simple English has sentence construction that Google translates good. Simple English does not use confusing pronouns. My wife is Chinese, so I know how to write, so that Google translates good. Some words in English also have confusing double meanings. (example = "hard" = 2 very different meanings). Martin